On Friday, Apple is set to release its newest game-changing gadget, the Apple Watch. This is great news for Apple junkies who have been waiting some time for Apple’s next move in the tech world, and the smart watch seems to be the next step in a succession of tech fads. The markets flooded with tablets after Apple released the first iPad in 2010, and now, it’s not uncommon to see at least one tablet floating around every classroom. And after the smart watch, who knows? If Google can get its act together with Google Glass, smart glasses may be the new trend. But for right now, we have the Apple Watch.
Hands down, this thing is cool. It simultaneously manages to replace your FitBit and that sting of separation anxiety when social etiquette imprisons your phone in your pocket. There are many features that do actually improve your connection with your device while paradoxically keeping it in your pocket.
Apple, of course, has decided to make the watch exclusive to the iPhone, which has allowed it to specifically hone in on improving the iPhone experience. Small taps alert you directly on your wrist about incoming text messages, phone calls and other notifications. The Apple Watch keeps track of your daily activity — heart rate, steps, even the amount of time you spend standing — and this information is automatically synced to your iPhone for review. Further, the watch allows you to answer text messages without taking your phone out of your pocket using predictive text technology. David Pogue, for Yahoo Tech, writes of the predictive text, “If someone texts you with a question … the watch sometimes makes an attempt to offer the logical responses. When it works, it’s absolutely amazing.”
It’s clear that the Apple Watch is a nifty piece of technology. But I’m probably not going to get one, and neither are you. So what are the reasons for this?
The Pew Research Center reports that a quarter of all mobile phone users have iPhones, and that’s out of every cell phone user in the country. For smart phone users alone, the percentage is much higher. It is arguably this fact that makes the iPhone so enjoyable and convenient: everyone has one. After Apple released iMessage, I couldn’t help but be disappointed every time I went to text a new number and the bubbles would come up green. Because so many people have iPhones, I can even make that joke without explaining it.
Further, most app developers create apps that work on Apple’s iOS operating system far before Android’s. Take Snapchat, for example, released to iOS in July 2011. The Android version of the app was not released until October 29, 2012, at which point UpStart Business Journal reported that one billion Snapchats had been sent, and users were sending these Snaps at a rate of 20 million per day. Apple users literally create trends before Android users are able to even get their hands on them. Despite all the claims that Android devices are technically better, many of which I disagree with, it’s still super convenient to have an iPhone because if I pick five people out of a crowd of college students, four of them will probably also have one.
The same goes for the Apple Watch, however, to its detriment. So much of what makes the watch really cool — not just useful, but cool — rests on the idea of basically everyone having one. For example, the Apple Watch allows you to send your heartbeat to another watch, so you could literally feel your mom’s heartbeat away at college.
Similarly, you can send “taps” to your friends’ watches, perhaps signaling, “Hey, this party sucks, let’s leave.” These modes of subtle communication are what technology is truly for, to keep us closer and more connected in unique but meaningful ways. But none of these touches really matter on a watch that only a niche population of Apple geeks have.
However, my main point of contention with the watch is its price. We knew it’d be expensive, and that’s not really the problem. We shell out hundreds of dollars for our iPhones. My problem is that in a year or two, the Apple Watch will be replaced by the Apple Watch 2, and then the 3, 4, 7s and so on. But unlike our iPhones, these updates won’t be subsidized by our cell providers.
Essentially, to have an updated watch, you have to commit to giving Apple a solid $500 bi-annually for the next, basically, forever. Because the Watch, in the eyes of cell service providers, is just an extension of the iPhone, they aren’t going to give us our long-sought-after subsidized updates that allow us to have the newest iPhone. Sprint doesn’t care that I have the newest Apple Watch because it has nothing to do with my contract with them.
There’s a lot to consider when purchasing the new Apple Watch. It will undoubtedly be successful, as all Apple products are, but for me, personally, I’m not sold.
